Trion - Plans Unrevealed!

Trion World Network, Inc. have announced they are developing a fantasy MMO under the lead of Jon Van Caneghem, the creator of the two RPG and strategy series Might & Magic and Heroes of Might & Magic:

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Trion World Network, Inc. (Trion), the publisher and developer of connected games and entertainment, has announced their first title, a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Jon Van Caneghem, Computer Gaming Hall of Fame member best known for creating the long running RPG and strategy franchises Might and Magic and Heroes, is the creative force behind the project currently being developed internally at Trion’s Redwood City studio. The game represents the initial first-party title on the Trion Platform, and will be published by Trion in both North America and Europe.

Gamers will enter a seamless, persistent fantasy world, where they will significantly affect the gameplay experience through dynamic events. Battles of enormous scale will create epic moments that an unprecedented number of players can participate in. All of this will be powered by Trion’s revolutionary server-based architecture, which is uniquely designed to enable massive scalability, dynamic content evolution, and cross platform development.

“This game is designed on the philosophy of putting players at the center of the game world,” said Jon Van Caneghem, co-founder, President and Chief Creative Officer, Trion. “By building an extensive event system and a server architecture that allows for dynamic change, we are creating completely new opportunities for creative game design. The game will live and change along with the players, evolving in response to their actions and the creativity of our design team.”

Trion's first title, led by Jon Van Caneghem, is another step that underscores Trion’s momentum in building a premium publisher and developer of server-based games. Today Trion also announced a publishing agreement with Sony as well as a major co-development deal with Sci-Fi Channel. With a world class team lead by industry veterans, publishing agreements across platforms, new IP titles being developed in the Trion studios, backing from financial and media giants, proprietary groundbreaking technology and operations in key locations, Trion World Network aims to define the future of interactive entertainment.

Lars Buttler, co-founder and chief executive of Trion, said that the game will live entirely online and that vistas will open as the television series takes the characters throughout their world. The game will continue to grow, and "footage" of players in battles or other mass gatherings will be incorporated into the series. The TV show will match the game in its look, with a green-screen hyper reality, much like the film "300," Howe said.

Buttler's company is partnered with Hewlett Packard and has raised $30 million from investors such as Time Warner and General Electric. He said the focus of the company is to pounce on the concept that discs and downloads are being left behind and that online games are the "clear future."

The virtual world that pulls in fans of the show will also give Buttler and his team hard data about which characters, settings and story lines stir the most interests. He said that will help the show's producers bend their story lines to audience tastes — a notion that might not sit well with some purists who think a drama should be guided by decisions of art rather than market research. Clearly, though, the very nature of television programming is in flux, and Howe said fans have an appetite for a new level of participation and tailored entertainments.

"This will be a state-of-the art game and it will be a strong television show, and watching how those two things interact will be fascinating," he said.

Saw this over at Celestial Heavens this morning—on the one hand, I'm sad that a pioneer like von C, who made basically the games that got me into gaming and rpgs, is now just another MMO guy. On the other hand, I wish him well, am glad he's still in the field, and I'm sure whatever he turns out will be high caliber stuff. Maybe someday he can make a SP focused title if that genre ever comes back around.

Whaaat? Jon Van Caneghem is in the lead? Being the main man behind both the M&M and HoMM series, he's one of the biggest legends in the industry. While M&M9 was a fairly poor game, the rest are simply brilliant, so this might just turn out great.

Of course, we don't know if he's still "got what it takes", but his name alone makes this worth paying attention to.